Patience urged as new Ceasefire kicks in

Friday

Dec 28, 2012 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - A recurring theme among advocates of a critical effort to curb the unrelenting violence that stalks Stockton's streets is "Be patient." But patience is hard to come by for residents of the many neighborhoods where bullets fly on a nightly basis and young armed robbers ply their trade with impunity.

Joe Goldeen

STOCKTON - A recurring theme among advocates of a critical effort to curb the unrelenting violence that stalks Stockton's streets is "Be patient." But patience is hard to come by for residents of the many neighborhoods where bullets fly on a nightly basis and young armed robbers ply their trade with impunity.

"In order to see long-term effects, it will take some time," Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones said, describing the latest incarnation of Operation Ceasefire, now in the first phase of implementation.

"This really is the newer, updated version of Operation Ceasefire. Now we have evidence-based research that shows what really works. It is specific to violent crime - the worst of the worst of our violent crimes," Jones said.

Since Stockton last rallied around Operation Ceasefire in the 1990s, experienced some tangible results and then saw the effort fade away, Jones said a lot of the details in implementing a successful program have been refined along with new ways to judge that success.

"If you just base it on job placement, you will fail. If you just base it on how many you get out of gangs, you will fail. We are targeting the reduction of violence. We're just telling these folks to put down your guns and stop shooting people," Jones said.

"It's about the ceasing of the killings with firearms," he said.

A major component of that is finding the right street outreach workers. Gang members, Jones said, will listen to former street gang members.

"We will attempt to give them any and all tools to remove themselves from that environment," he said. That means access to service providers, job interviews, tattoo removal, substance abuse programs, anger management - "whatever is needed to removing the barriers. It's important to have all these resources made available easily and on the same page."

Curtis Smith is convinced Operation Ceasefire will work. The pastor of Stockton's Destiny Christian Center, Smith, 44, has seen the effort succeed firsthand in Sacramento, where he lived and worked as a youth pastor up until about three years ago.

His passion and excitement for the program shows as he talks about it.

"It's not going to be an easy thing, but it is going to get really good results. In Sacramento, they even had rival gang members sitting at the same table," Smith said.

After witnessing Stockton's surging violent crime just during his short tenure here, Smith believes "everyone is at the same point of 'enough is enough.' "

In Sacramento, his unconditional, nonjudgmental approach to everyone resulted in helping someone leave a gang. "We let them know that someone cares," he said. His consistent message is, "We want you to live. We want you to live and enjoy life, to thrive and have a future."

Since January, Smith and several other volunteers have quietly taken to the streets to implement one component of Operation Ceasefire called Lifelines to Healing. Lifelines involves members of the faith-based community from PACT - People and Congregations Together - going out to neighborhoods targeted as violent criminal hot spots, based on data supplied by police.

"They go out with the intent of establishing relationships; hence the name offering a 'lifeline,' to figure out what is driving this crime. What are the situations behind it?" Smith explained that time and time again, he's heard from individuals who want to get out of a criminal lifestyle but have no clue where to begin.

"When we go out, it's not going out forcing religion on anyone. It's just establishing a relationship with those hanging out on the streets, to someone who lives in that community, to business owners. This effort is before the actual implementation of Ceasefire, because we thought there was too much killing and murders going on in Stockton," Smith said.

"We just took that initiative, but we did meet with the police on where we should go. They told us 'Bianchi.' " Smith was referring to an area of low-income housing between East Bianchi Road and the Calaveras River that police refer to as a neighborhood plagued by high crime, high gang activity, street robberies and shootings.

During the one to two hours his group is out on Thursday evenings, Smith said encounters with the people they meet are brief. Over time, a level of familiarity, trust and respect has built up, and that, Smith said, is of vital importance to the success of Operation Ceasefire.

"There is no ulterior motive. In a quick amount of time, we have established relationships; we are not trying to surprise anyone. We are going for consistency. If the faith-based community would establish that kind of movement in their own areas, you would see the crime coming down. That sense of community on a consistent basis will drive crime down," Smith said. A second group goes out in a troubled south Stockton neighborhood.

Jones said the Police Department is identifying "the most at-risk people, not just off of data but from street cops and others, so we know we're addressing the right folks." Those targeted individuals - he estimated that number at about 10 - will be invited to participate in a "call-in" with service providers to help get the word out that resources are easily available.

"For the resources we have, it's the best opportunity to go after the spike in violent crime. It addresses recidivism, too. Funding comes from the state through the county's Community Corrections Partnership," Jones said, adding that illustrates the county's "full support" of Stockton's efforts.

In Sacramento, Smith said, "it took passion and love and determination and a commitment to say, 'Let's do this.' We have to learn from the last time and listen. Understand it takes time. It just doesn't happen overnight," Smith said.